


Opportunity Knocks

by scandalsavage



Series: Ra'sJay Ficlets [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Extremely Dubious Consent, M/M, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2019-10-17 09:07:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17557454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scandalsavage/pseuds/scandalsavage
Summary: Jason is captured by the murderous pack of werewolves his family has been hunting for years. The Lead Alpha of the Shadow Pack has plans to replace the members fallen to the hunter’s silver. How poetic that the solution to his problem should come in the form of his enemy’s son.Werewolf/Hunter + A/B/O





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been getting a bunch of prompts on Tumblr for Ra’sJay content and I’d figure I’d share them here too. I guess these are technically ‘ficlets’ but I’m not up on the lingo so... have some words :)
> 
> I originally started posting these as different chapters in a work but I keep having fun ideas (and/or getting fun prompts) to expand on them so... this works better for that if I decide to do so. I make no promises that there will be further chapters. But there very well could be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt/Ask thing:  
> What if werewolves have an alpha/omega thing where if your turned/born you become an Alpha or omega depending on what the area is lacking. Also Werewolf Ra's turning hunter Jason. Making him his omega breeding bitch and Jason can't go back to the hunters now, their idea of mercy to a turned hunter is a silver bullet to the brain and they'd kill all his pups. He's completely reliant on Ra's and his pack, he has no idea how to be a wolf and no contacts outside the hunters.

Jason gets separated from his family while hunting a particularly dangerous pack. They’re a larger and more organized pack than any the Wayne’s have fought before and they hadn’t even known about them until the pack Alpha had tried to kidnap Bruce.

  
They’ve been hunting the pack ever since but they move like shadows in the dark and every time the Wayne clan gets close, they disappear again until word comes of a new massacre.

  
So Jason doesn’t feel too hopeful when he wakes to find himself bound in rusty cuffs bolted to the dripping stone walls of a dank dungeon. He knows the best he can hope for is that they kill him quickly and don’t eat him. Or worse.

  
He’s also pretty sure that stripping him naked and buckling a thick leather collar around his neck is power play and a fear tactic. He resolves not to give them the satisfaction.  
The man who enters his cell doesn’t look like a minion. He’s tall and trim with sharp green eyes and a penetrating gaze. He has white streaks starting at his temple and trailing back into brown hair that has two subtle peaks like... well, like dog ears.

  
Jason swallows. The pack Alpha has a dark brown coat with white streaks under his ears. And clever, glowing green eyes.

  
He doesn’t speak as he strides into the room, smirking arrogantly, taking Jason’s chin between long, strong fingers with sharp nails, and turning his head to either side.

  
“Exceptional,” the man hums as he drops Jason’s face to lightly finger the collar.

  
Jason growls and tries to jerk away but he doesn’t have much range of motion. The man just chuckles and continues sliding his hand down the curve of Jason’s neck, his shoulder, arm, across his hip and back up his abs to his chest before stopping, hand splayed, over his heart.

  
Jason stills. He doesn’t like the tone of the slow, lingering touches.

  
“I am Ra’s al Ghul, lead Alpha of the Shadow Pack,” the man says in a deep, resonant voice that sends a shiver down Jason’s spine. Delight flashes across al Ghul’s face and Jason isn’t going to analyze the reaction because he’s pretty sure he won’t like his conclusion. Ra’s continues before Jason can comment. “You are one of Wayne’s boys. One of the hunters who’s been stalking my family.”

  
He doesn’t seem overly upset about that. He just stares at Jason.

  
“If you’re gonna kill me, can you just get it over with? I hate villain monologues.”

  
Ra’s al Ghul’s smile spreads. “I’m not going to kill you, boy.”

  
Jason gulps, that small hope for a quick death crashing down around him. It’s worse. He knew it. He’s always been the unlucky one.

  
“If you turn me, first chance I get I’m going straight back to my family so they can put a silver bullet in me.”

  
The werewolf chuckles. “They would do that too, wouldn’t they? They would no longer see the human in you, just the animal.”

  
“The monster, you mean.”

  
Ra’s thumbs at his nipple, digging his pointed nail into the sensitive bud. Jason hisses.

  
“Child. You will learn soon enough how very little you know. And by the time you have the opportunity to return to your family, I think you’ll find yourself quite unwillingly to do so.”

  
“Yeah, well, you don’t know me,” Jason snorts.

  
“Hmm,” Ra’s rumbles, eyes dropping to gaze contemplatively at the collar. After a moment he’s continues.

  
“You’re family has been surprisingly adept at hunting mine. As such, I must replenish our numbers.”

  
This surprises Jason a little. This pack is perhaps the biggest one they’ve ever chased, even without the werewolves the Wayne’s had dispatched.

  
“You will be instrumental in that endeavor.”

  
“You think I’ll turn a bunch of people for you? Not a chance.”

  
“Turning is not the only way werewolves are created.”

  
Jason freezes. “That—you can’t know if I’ll—“

  
“There isn’t an omega in over a hundred square miles,” Ra’s purrs, rolling Jason’s nipple between his fingers to elicit another hiss, “I’ve made absolutely certain.”

  
Jason suddenly can’t stop starring at the elongated canines of the older man. Unlike vampires who only have extra long upper canines, all four of a werewolf’s are bigger than normal. And he doesn’t want them anywhere near him.

  
Ra’s moves quickly and unexpectedly. Jason only has time to flinch, to regret that he can’t cover his neck while he’s restrained.

  
Only it’s not his throat al Ghul goes for.

  
Fiery pain erupts from where those sharp teeth are buried in his chest. It’s so hot and searing that the tongue flicking over his nipple feels cool in comparison.  
Ra’s pulls off of him as his vision starts to black out. A smug, bloody smile is the last thing he sees.

  
The next couple of weeks leading up to and through his first change is a blur, like he’d been drugged. He finds out later that it’s because, not only is his body adding the wolf bits and the mechanisms to change, but also flooding him with hormones to facilitate… everything an omega needs.

  
He has flashes of being curled up on the cool stone floor, dying from a fire that boils his blood, a heat he can’t escape. His thighs drenched in something viscous that he can feel leaking from his body. The only moments of relief offered on the back of a sharp pain and the exquisite full feeling that floods his body with pleasure and contentment.

  
He has flashes of fur and claws ripping through his skin and it’s excruciating. His bones broken and reshaped. But it’s nothing to the inferno that continues to rage under his new skin, doused only by the stretch of his new cunt, stuffed with his Alpha’s knot.

  
When he comes out of it, when he comes back to himself, he’s livid. Wants to slaughter and disembowel every single werewolf he comes across.

  
But he’s strapped to a bed, al Ghul’s bed. And the man visits often, triggering his new instincts to submit, overwhelming him with the strong, protective scent of Alpha, continually.

  
By the time he’s released he understands. This is his new family. He can’t go home. Bruce, his brothers… they’ll kill him. And the pups he carries.

  
Ra’s is thrilled when they’re born, a litter of three. He says it was once the norm for omegas to produce litters but now multiple births are as uncommon for werewolves as humans.

  
Jason has barely recovered when Ra’s mounts him again. He tries to argue. It’s too soon, he wants to spend time with the pups they already have. His protests are ignored and it doesn’t take long before he’s meeting each rough thrust.

  
Changing never gets any easier either. And he’s always left behind in their most recent stronghold when the pack goes out. Sometimes the turn lines up with his heat and Ra’s stays too. He hates that he prefers even that to being left alone in a building as a wolf.

  
This time he gives birth to two. And when Ra’s comes for him again just weeks after they’re born he understands even more. Knows the role the Alpha expects him to take.

  
He tries to run once but they catch him and the kids easily. His punishment is a night being passed around the rest of the pack.

  
He never tries to leave again. Probably wouldn’t have even without the fear of reliving such a humiliating and dehumanizing experience.

  
His whole life as a human was devoted to the training and act of hunting werewolves. He doesn’t know anyone who wouldn’t kill him or his pups on sight. He doesn’t know enough about life as a wolf to protect them, to provide for them, to help them, if they had to survive in the wild without the pack.

  
He’s stuck in this hell and he can’t see a way out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason gets some visitors.

There is one incident while they are in Hungary. The pack goes hunting on the full moon, as usual, and leaves newly pregnant Jason alone with his five pups and two guards, as usual.

There’s a commotion outside the door to the nursery where Jason, the moonlight from the window making his black coat glisten and the white streak along his spine look like it’s glowing, is curled up protectively around his little fluff balls, all snoring softly or making those little high pitched whining noises they do while they chase something in their dreams.

He stands slowly not wanting to frighten his babies. For all that he hates his situation and Ra’s and the Shadows and the _fact_ that he _has_ babies at all, he loves the little mutts themselves. He’ll rip the throats out of whatever threat might come through that door.

But they look up at him anyway, jostled awake by his movements, with worry in their big puppy eyes. His five little Alphas can sense his concern. So he noses them into a corner where the older three station themselves in front of their younger siblings, even though they all huddle together. Jason nuzzles them and gives them a little lick on their heads, before taking up and hunched, aggressive position between them and the door, bares his teeth and starts to snarl, low, deep, and definitely threatening.

He can’t help how he straightens and whimpers in surprise when Bruce and Dick barge through, covered in blood.

Guess the guards are done for.

“We don’t have much time before the pack—“ Dick is saying as he enters and freezes when he sees a lone adult wolf and a bunch of pups.

“Holy shit,” he breathes.

Unless something has changed in the last year, they’d never seen werewolf babies before.

Jason doesn’t know what to do. He just stands there looking between them and hopes they don’t make him kill them. Or get himself killed.

“Bruce…”

“They’re still werewolves, Dick.”

Jason lowers himself into a fighting stance again and growls. They both take a small step back.

“They’re… babies, Bruce,” Dick almost whispers, horrified by the idea of killing the pups.

Jason relaxes a little. He can’t talk like this, not any human language, and he’s doing his damnedest to communicate to them to please not harm him and his kids. He’s tempted to sit, to try to show them that he doesn’t mean them any harm, but if they lunge for him he’ll be unprepared.

Bruce swallows hard like he doesn’t like the idea of hurting the little ones any more than his oldest. But Dick’s eyes narrow at Jason.

“The mother isn’t attacking and only growled when you threatened them…”

Bruce glances at Dick quickly before looking back to him. Jason lets his tail wag to show that Dick is on the right track.

“You… don’t want to hurt us do you?” Dick asks kindly but keeping his distance.

Jason gives a vigorous shake of his head, pleading with them to understand.

His oldest (by about a minute, not that she lets that stop her from acting like she owns the place) leaps out in front of him growling, trying to protect her pack.

It’d be adorable if Jason’s heart wasn’t suddenly in his throat. He tries to reach for her, to stop her, to hold her back, but as Dick blinks in surprise, Bruce raises his gun.

On reflex Jason lets out a loud, terrified howl, taking half a step forward, the instinct to protect the greater number of his pups battling fiercely with the desire to save the one. And still another part of him believes that lunging forward is the best way to get them all killed, and that staying put, _begging_ one part of his family to spare the other by proving that they’re not a threat, is the only way out.

“Bruce don’t!” Dick cries, grabbing onto the older man’s arm. Jason isn’t sure Bruce meant to fire at all if the surprise on his face when the gun goes off is anything to go by. But the surprise of the pup jumping out at them and Dick’s frantic grasp makes the weapon fire.

The shot goes wide and Jason yelps at a sudden burning sensation in his shoulder. He can feel the warmth of his blood trickling from the wound.

But he doesn’t care, barely notices after the initial impact. Because his pup is still moving toward them, single minded in her biological drive to protect, growling in her precious baby voice.

Jason is trembling, whimpering, he’s never been so afraid in his life. He doesn’t take his eyes of her as she gets closer and closer to them.

Dick and Bruce look so lost. They obviously have no idea what to do.

When she’s a foot away, she stops growling and sniffs the air. She looks up, glancing between the hunters a couple times.

Then she paws at Bruce’s boot and yips up at him expectantly.

“What the hell?” Bruce exclaims, shocked and uncertain.

Dick’s eyes are wide and his brows are practically at his hairline. Which is exactly the look that would be on Jason’s face, if it were human.

When she’s ignored, the pup turns to Dick and gets up on her hind legs, pressing her front ones into Dick’s calf, and whines at him.

Dick looks at Bruce then focuses on Jason.

“Does… does she want me to… _pet_ her?”

Jason glances between all three of them. She must… think they’re pack. They smell like family to her. Jason’s heart swells even as it breaks.

He looks into Dick’s eyes and gives a single nod.

Dick hesitantly leans down while Bruce stares at Jason, making sure he doesn’t use the distraction to attack.

“This is the weirdest thing,” Dick mutters as he scratches her ears and she nuzzles into his hand.

Jason agrees.

“Agreed,” Bruce says.

Another moment passes and the ballsy little girl rolls over so Dick can rub her belly.

Suddenly the almost comfortable silence is split by a howl in the distance. But too close for comfort.

Jason cringes while Bruce turns toward the window. They must have heard his cry.

He doesn’t realize Dick’s eyes find him and watch his reactions, curious.

“I’m not killing them, Bruce,” Dick says softly, “Any of them.”

Jason holds his breath,

“We… shouldn’t leave them to be raised with this pack, to grow into our enemies…” Jason’s heart thuds and he tries desperately to think of a way to tell them to take the pups and go. He trusts that Dick, at least, would protect them. And even Bruce doesn’t sound all that ready to harm them.

“I’m _not_ killing them,” Dick reiterates very firmly, giving Jason’s pup one last scratch before standing and looking back to him.

“We’re gonna go, okay?” Dick says to him, “I hope you remember this in the future.”

Jason will never forget.

And just like that they’re gone.

Jason is glad he’s a wolf right now. Wolves can’t cry.

When the pack returns, way too close on the heels of the hunters, Ra’s, huge and imposing and overwhelmingly… _Alpha_ , barges into the room snarling, enraged by the scent of human.

He takes a moment to check on his pups, makes sure that they’re unharmed, before turning his attention to Jason.

Jason flinches as the much larger wolf approaches and immediately soothes into submission when his Alpha begins to lick at his wound, cleaning it.

Eventually the blood is gone. But Ra’s doesn’t stop licking him, nosing at his neck and ears affectionately, until he’s nudged Jason into position.

It’s easy to give in. When Ra’s is all fired up his scent is irresistible, especially if Jason is injured or anxious or stressed. And he’s all those. Or was. A small part of him hates how much better he feels since Ra’s arrived.

He whines when Ra’s enters him. He feels a wet tongue lick his nose and opens his eyes to see their oldest curl up in front of him, touching her nose to his and happily dozing off now that her mother is safe and content.

He feels drugged up on the doting and protective pheromones that hang thick in the air. When Ra’s bites him, knots him, and lets his weight sag against him the world feels right.

But in the far reaches of his mind he sees Dick smiling as he scratches the pup’s ears.


	3. Chapter 3

Jason knows something isn’t right when Ra’s tries to send him away with Talia and Damian.

Ra’s usually likes to keep him close, especially when he’s this far along. Jason takes some comfort from the fact that the Alpha didn’t seem to realize how attached to his omega he would become. Those unwanted instincts and feelings to make one’s mate happy and protect them are apparently a two-way street. Ra’s gets particularly protective and territorial toward the end of Jason’s pregnancies. And he only has a few weeks before he gives birth.

 _Again_ , he thinks bitterly. On the one hand, he’s grateful that he doesn’t have to spend 9 months pregnant like a human (though he would much prefer the 65-day period of wolves) and on the other he despises that the 4 month pregnancy and short recovery time means Ra’s has kept him swollen with his spawn practically all year.

He wonders if that’s normal. Humans and wolves usually only mate once a year and though his first year with the pack is past, he was pregnant a _third_ time before it ended.

He’s also a little bitter that he’s going miss his change by about a week and he is going to have to pop the new ones out as a human. He had his first litter as a wolf and the second as person. He much prefers going through it as the wolf. It’s less… embarrassing? Certainly less painful.

And even though he loves all his pups, there’s already too many for him to handle on his own.

Jason sighs. He doesn’t mind going off to wherever Ra’s wants them to go.

With Damian.

Damian’s still a pup and as the oldest child he’s actually been pretty helpful wrangling all his little aunts and uncles. Jason knows that much of the kid’s motivation is to make sure none of his grandfather’s new children supplant him in the pack hierarchy, to establish his dominance over them early. But Jason also knows who Damian really is, that Damian feels the same pull to Jason’s pups that his little ones felt toward Bruce and Dick, that they’re pack twice over. No one had to tell him, and no one has. But he can see so much of Bruce in Damian it’s almost scary.

But Talia? He knows Ra’s trusts his Alpha daughter as much as he trusts anyone. But he doesn’t think his mate sees the way she eyes him sometimes. He’s the only omega in the pack (apparently it’s normal that only the lead Alpha takes a mate) and she’d been away on a mission when Ra’s let everyone else have a go at him after his ill-fated escape attempt. He gets the feeling she thinks she missed out. It’s pretty unlikely the opportunity will arise again. Even if Jason were to try to run away… at this point, Ra’s is too invested. He has no doubt the Alpha would punish him severely. But it would be private. Ra’s won’t share him now. Regardless, Jason doesn’t really want to be alone with Talia.

So he’s grateful when his Alpha changes his mind and says he can stay. That it ‘actually works out better this way’ which then puts Jason right back on edge.

Their current keep, a remote Gothic castle somewhere in northern Germany, is strangely quiet as Jason tiptoes around. Something is going on, he has a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. And it’s not however many pups are in there this time.

Ra’s had told him to stay with the kids. But that’s always been a given so the fact that he had felt the need to say something… well, it makes it impossible for Jason to resist leaving his pups with Damian to go snooping around.

The few people he does run into don’t try to stop him either so the rest of the pack must not know what’s going on any more than him. Though he does disappear into a shadow to avoid Talia.

As he creeps deeper into the lower levels he hears speaking coming from a room at the end of a long stone hall. Jason recognizes Ra’s’ soft, low tone easily and spares a moment to _hate_ the way it immediately calms him. The other voice is too quiet to make out.

“—my eye on you since you started looking into his disappearance,” Ra’s is saying as Jason carefully makes his way to door, “You’re very nearly as good a hunter as your ‘father’. What you lack in his physical prowess you make up for with intellect. Too bad intellect only gets you so far when you go off on your own.”

There’s the sound of chains clinking together and little grunting noises that indicate a struggle. Then something is mumbled too gently for Jason to hear.

“No they won’t, son,” his Alpha drawls, “They do not know where you are and they believe he is dead.”

More garbled words, most of which he can’t quite catch. He hears ‘found you’ and ‘babies’ and ‘you’re sick’ and finally ‘knows the difference’ but not much else. However, there’s a small note of familiarity in the way it sounds. It pulls at the loose ends of far away memories.

“Ah, yes. Thank you for confirming that it was your meddlesome family who broke into our last home. As for Jason, I’ll have to have a word with him about it, I suppose. After all, family should come first. And Jason’s family is no longer your’s. It’s mine.”

Jason freezes. One of his brothers is chained up in that room with Ra’s. Just as he had been once.

Suddenly his Alpha’s desire to send away the only omega for miles makes more sense.

The wave of conflicting emotions that flood through him are debilitating. He’s hurt and angry that his mate would try to make another, especially now, while he carries yet another litter of their pups. But he’s also terrified for…

Tim… that’s who’s in there, that is whose voice he hears. Restrained and at Ra’s’ mercy.

An internal war rages as his instincts clash. He hadn’t really had much time to get to know Tim before he was captured by the Shadow Pack. Tim had been new, only been with them for about a year. Bruce had taken him in after a lone wolf killed his parents. Jason had liked him but Tim hadn’t had a chance to come out of his shell yet.

Regardless, Tim is part of their clan. He is family. Who does Jason protect when both parties are pack?

It’s harder than it should be, to choose Tim, and he hates himself for how long it takes him to stumble through the doorway begging “No, please, Ra’s don’t—“.

But it’s nothing to the self-loathing he feels when he sees Ra’s pull away from Tim’s limp body, teeth bloody, and realizes he’s too late.

Jason’s knees hit the floor as Ra’s turns and smiles down at him.

“What… what did you do?” Jason asks softly, staring at the drop of blood that drips down Tim’s clavicle from the bite in his neck until tears sting his eyes. He doesn’t expect and answer. It’s obvious.

Ra’s slips his fingers under Jason’s chin and tilts his head up before cupping his cheek. Jason meets his gaze and the tears fall.

“You need assistance, Beloved,” Ra’s explains. Jason closes his eyes at the term of affection and leans into the warm touch. “There is no appropriate option within the pack. So I’ve made you one.”

Jason glances back to Tim, still hanging unconscious against the wall, already starting to sweat profusely as his body begins facilitating the changes to come.

In that moment he’s struck with a sense of clarity. He won’t let Ra’s do to Tim what was done to him. He’ll help Tim get away before the bond that keeps Jason at his Alpha’s side more than anything else can be established. He’s relieved to find that it has nothing to do with jealousy, nothing to do with Ra’s finding another, or a new, mate, nothing to do with being replaced. But everything to do with protecting his brother. Ra’s will never touch Tim the way he’s touched Jason.

As though he can read Jason’s thoughts in his expression, Ra’s chuckles and leans over, pressing their lips together. Jason opens his mouth without complaint when Ra’s’ tongue prods at him for access.

When the Alpha pulls away and straightens he cocks his head, regarding Jason with an odd warmth.

“Do not worry, my dear. You are not being set aside. It did occur to me that two omegas would give me more options in the future. But the pack has no need for another, not to mention the additional temptation and distraction of an unmated omega, or the resentment that could build under a greedy Alpha with two mates. Our kind do not take well to such departures from protocol.”

Jason tries to suppress the tingle of relief he feels. Focuses instead on his confusion because the pack certainly doesn’t need another Alpha and an Alpha wouldn’t be much help to him. He also tries to focus on that streak of fear he feels for Tim; the anger he feels toward Ra’s.

“Timothy is much better suited to being a beta anyway.”

Jason frowns. He has never heard of betas.

But then Ra’s’ fingers are in his hair, his nails scratching lightly at his scalp.

“Come, Beloved,” Ra’s growls darkly, tugging him to his feet and pressing him back into the door frame, “You smell delicious. I want to spend the rest of the night inside you with your neck between my teeth.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (See end note for specific warning)
> 
> Wow. Sorry this took so long.
> 
> Did I mention this is in kind of a Victorian Era setting in my head?

Jason doesn’t see Tim again for over a week. Ra’s assures him sweetly that he’s not touching the fledgling beta, to inflict pain or pleasure.  Whatever a ‘beta’ is, Jason still has no idea. But the fact that Ra’s usually follows the denials with bending him over or shoving him against he nearest wall doesn’t leave Jason with a lot of confidence. He can’t stop his body from wanting the Alpha or control the desire to be near him and please him, but that’s a very different thing than trust. Jason doesn’t trust Ra’s at all, especially when it feels like his mate is just trying to distract him from asking more questions.

It’s not until Damian confirms his grandfather’s words that Jason really believes that Tim isn’t in danger. For now anyway. Not of being hurt or mounted at any rate.

But that begs the question… what _is_ Ra’s doing to his packmate?

“I would tell you if he was hurting your brother, jida,” Damian says from where Sara, Dusan, and William, are crawling all over him, giggling as they pull his hair and try to goad him into play fighting.

“Don’t call me that,” Jason mutters. His words muffled from under the the cool, damp cloth covering his face. He’s been feeling ill lately. Not the normal kind of ill that has accompanied his other pregnancies. And he’s _huge_. He’s terrified that this will be his biggest litter yet. He can’t believe his bad luck. That he’s apparently particularly fertile.

But he lifts the corner of the cloth to peek out at the demon prince playing with his oldest three pups and smiles. The younger two are napping in one of the adjoining rooms and Damian spends much of his leisure time in the nursery, playing with the pups, chatting with Jason. He has become the closest thing to a friend Jason has here. He thinks the kid may even like him better than Ra’s or Talia.

He wonders if Damian knows who his father is… if he should tell him.

It’s a question Jason has considered more and more frequently, the longer no one explicitly addresses the obvious relation.

“Are you all right?” Damian asks, unable to completely disguise the concern in his voice. He’s softened some since the early days. Hopefully he’s more careful around Ra’s who considers softness a weakness.

Jason sighs. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just feeling a little—“

“Good afternoon.”

Ra’s’ voice is like the water suddenly going cold in the middle of a shower. The easy, relaxed atmosphere quickly turns thick and tense.

The kids don’t notice. They toddle toward the warm, familiar scent of their father.

The aroma of spiced citrus with a hint of mint immediately settles some of the illness bubbling inside him. Jason resents it. A lot.

“Grandson. Beloved,” Ra’s nods to each, acknowledging their presence before smiling down at his pups and letting them tug him further into the room by his robes.

A familiar face follows closely on his heels.

“Tim!”

Jason tries to leap to his feet but he’s so much heavier than normal that even at his fastest, he’s laughably slow.

“Jason,” Tim says, much more stoically than Jason would have expected. That’s troublesome but Tim moves to meet him for a hug that he returns enthusiastically so Jason tries not to read too much into it.

“Are you ok? What happened? Did Ra’s—“

“You will have plenty of time to catch up with your brother, dearest,” Ra’s hums, picking up Dusan, the oldest boy and very obviously his favorite

Damian tries to hide his frown. Ra’s doesn’t see but Jason does.

“Timothy will be assisting you with the children. And when you do not need him he will be aiding with the managing of the pack’s assets.”

Jason eyes Tim in his peripherals, he seems all right but something is off. He refocuses on Ra’s who’s bouncing Dusan on his hip and allowing Sara to take his hand and lead him to the puzzle blocks in the corner (only educational toys allowed).

Will stays in Damian’s lap. He’s not the oldest, or the oldest son—which is why he’s the only one out of the first three that Jason was allowed to name—so Ra’s doesn’t usually give him much attention. Maybe that’s why he’s Damian’s favorite. They both watch Ra’s and the other two with intensely intelligent, stoic gazes.

After a couple minutes Jason can’t stand anymore. He sucks in a breath as he takes a step back toward the lounger, every movement is awkward and he’s _so_ heavy that being upright for too long hurts his back.

Tim’s materializes at his side taking his arm and slipping his own around Jason’s waist to help support his weight. In the seven steps it takes to get back, Jason is out of breath and a little dizzy.

“Thanks, Timmy,” he mutters, breathing hard. “How are—“

Tim’s eyes snap up to his and the younger man gives him a small, pointed shake of his head before propping Jason’s feet up with a nearby pillow.

For some reason that both makes Jason feel better and more worried.

One of the babies starts crying in the other room and Jason groans. Damian is already shifting Will out of his lap to take care of it but Tim gets to his feet first.

“I got it,” he says, smiling gently at Jason and giving a nod to Damian on his way out.

As the final weeks of his pregnancy pass, Tim is immensely helpful, looking after the kids, helping Jason move about. But when he’s not around, Jason knows he’s with working with Ra’s. And that makes him immensely uncomfortable.

Two weeks before his due date, Jason suddenly goes grey at breakfast and collapses. Tim and Damian rush to his side and find him in a small puddle of blood. They carry him to his bed before Damian runs off to find Ra’s.

Jason was right. It was his biggest litter yet. Or would have been. If any of five of them had made it.

He’s pretty out of it for the next few days. But he can smell Ra’s at his side, feels the strong, reassuring embrace of his mate when he whimpers and nuzzles closer.

When he finally comes out of his depressive, drugged haze enough to think he burrows his face into Ra’s’ chest.

“I’m so sorry,” he mumbles. It’s not his fault, he knows that. Somewhere. Deep in the back of his mind. He knows. But he still feels the need to apologize.

When the alpha doesn’t answer, Jason risks a glance up to his face to find Ra’s staring at him intently. Considering. Weighing.

“Accidents happen,” he says coolly, running his fingers through Jason’s hair, making him shiver, “I’m sure you won’t allow it a second time.”

Jason stiffens and swallows hard. He lies still at Ra’s’ side, suddenly terrified, as the older man continues to finger his hair.

After about an hour Ra’s gently untangles himself from around Jason and makes his way toward the door where he pauses and looks back.

“The doctor suggests I allow you a couple weeks to recuperate before touching you again,” Ra’s starts, sounding dangerous and watching Jason with sharp, calculating eyes, “And that it would be prudent to wait several months before making another attempt at impregnating you again.”

Jason tries to hold back the wave of relief that washes over him. He could definitely use a break especially after this. He feels wrung out, emotionally and physically drained. He has conflicting feelings about losing this litter and he hasn’t had a chance to come to terms with them yet.

He knows Ra’s, though.

“But you’re young, healthy, resilient. I suspect you’ll be ready to try again a good deal sooner than three to six months. Don’t you agree?”

His body is still overflowing with hormones. So he blames those for the way he starts trembling. And for the tears that he tries to desperately and futilely hold back.

“Y-yes alpha,” he responds in a cracked whisper as a tear slides down his cheek and drips onto the silk sheets.

Ra’s nods, happy with his response, and leaves Jason to curl up and cry into the pillows. He sees but doesn’t really register a shadow moving in the doorway to the dark nursery.

Tim visits a couple days later looking anxious and worried.

“I’m sorry, Jason. I’m so sorry.”

Jason almost laughs. Not a single thing that’s happened is Tim’s fault. “For what? You haven’t—“

“I have,” he looks over his shoulder, double checking the door, making certain they’re alone, “I knew we’d be cutting it close but I thought we had more time. I had to move fast. Traveling with five kids while you were pregnant would be hard enough, but with even more shrieking infants—“

“What are you talking about?” Jason asks quietly, eyes wide. He feels like the blood in his veins has turned to ice. He misses the days when he was fearless.

Tim fidgets and takes a deep breath. “Ra’s thinks he broke me. I played dead and he bought it. I’ve been helping him with the running of the pack and—“

“What did you do?” Jason hisses.

“I… I sent word to Bruce and Dick,” he says so softly that Jason barely hears him, “To meet us at coordinates near the harbor in the local village.”

Jason stares at him in disbelief and tries to squash the bit of hope that swells in his chest.

Not for himself. For the kids.

“The ‘local’ village is four miles away, Tim,” he growls, “There’s no way you’re going to make it before the pack finds you, not if you’re taking the kids.”

To his credit, Tim doesn’t pretend to be surprised at Jason’s phrasing. Doesn’t try to convince him that he can still go too. Doesn’t do any of that self-destructive optimistic shit that Bruce or Dick would do. None of that ‘we all go, we’ll make it because we have to’ crap that the others would try.

Tim is practical. Jason respects that.

“I’m taking the kids,” Tim says firmly before softening a bit and giving a sheepish smile, “If you’ll let me. If you want them to get away from _him_. I feel pretty confident that Ra’s won’t hurt them if we get caught but… he’s going to hurt you whether we make it or not.”

Jason’s not worried about that. He’d take whatever horrific and/or demeaning punishment Ra’s can think up if it means the kids and Tim were safely away from the Demon and his Shadows.

“If you get caught,” Jason says quietly, casting his own furtive glance at the door, “Tim, the things he’ll do to _you_ if you get caught…”

Flashes of the repercussions of his own ill-fated escape attempt move like a grisly montage across his memory.

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Tim states firmly.

A loaded silence stretches between them before Tim shift uncomfortably again and rest his hand on Jason’s arm.

“I wish I could postpone… I wish I could get a letter to them in time but—“

“It’s fine.”

Jason’s more worried about the logistics. The kids all took to Tim like fish to water, something about him being a beta, so they’ll trust him. They’ll follow him. But…

“How on earth are you going to travel alone with five babies?” Because they _are_ babies. The older three can barely walk and the younger two can’t at all.

It’s clear when Tim swallows that that’s why he’s really here. He needs help coming up with a plan.

Chewing on the inside of his cheek, Jason considers their options.

It’s time for a calculated risk.

“Can you get Damian up here?”

Tim’s eyes go wide. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to—“

“Trust me. Please.”

There is a brief hesitation before Tim takes a deep breath and nods.

He’s not gone long, returning only five minutes or so later with Damian.

“How are you feeling, ji—Jason?”

Jason smiles at him. “I’ve been better,” he answers as they both sit on either side of the bed.

Damian’s expression is full of deep concern as his eyes scan every inch of Jason that he can see, searching for any indication of discomfort.

“Are you ok, Damian?” He asks on a whim. Damian seems tense and uncomfortable. More than usual.

The little Alpha casts an uncertain gaze at Tim.

“You can trust Tim, Dami. He’s _my_ pack.”

Damian’s eyes snap back to Jason at the words, once again looking for anything off. Then he relaxes a little.

“I… I overheard what grandfather said to you the other day. About not… about not giving you the time you need…”

Tim’s eyes narrow while Jason’s widen.

“Oh. Well—“

“It’s not right,” the kid interrupts angrily, “It’s not right that he blames you and it’s not right that he won’t let you heal. He’s a… he’s… he’s not the man I thought he was.”

His passion tapers out by the end. And this is the chance Jason needs.

“Damian… has Ra’s or Talia ever mentioned your father?”

It’s Tim’s turn for wide eyes as realization strikes. But Damian just squints in confusion.

“Not really. I know only that he is great warrior. The only man mother has ever found worthy.”

“Oh my god,” Tim mutters, “I’m so fucking blind.”

“What are you mumbling about, Drake?”

“Dami, your dad… I didn’t know how to bring it up before or if you already knew and I’d just get in trouble for trying to tell you but… Tim’s not the only brother of mine sitting on this bed.”

It’s admirable really, how well Damian takes the news. A brief flash of skepticism quickly gives way as his mind puts together any number of little clues Ra’s and Talia may have let slip over the years.

“My father is the hunter who took you in and trained you. The one grandfather so admires.”

It’s not a question but Jason nods anyway.

“Would you like to meet him?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Tim flinches. Jason keeps his gaze firmly on the young alpha, trying to catch any twitch that might clue him in on whether to continue or back off.

“Yes.”

“You… you don’t want to think—“

“No. I would meet my sire,” Damian answers firmly, leaving no room for argument, before fixing his keen green eyes on Jason’s. “And I would get you and the pups away from grandfather.”

Jason smiles sadly. “Unfortunately I can’t travel right now.”

“Then we wait until you are able.”

“Bruce will be at the harbor in the village in two days. It’s now or never.”

Damian’s face falls from surprised to horrified quickly. “We can’t leave you, jida. Ra’s will… he will blame you. He will most certainly harm you.”

“A price I’m willing to pay if you and Tim and your little aunts and uncles can make it safely back to our pack.”

The phrasing is deliberate and Damian knows it. Pack is everything. The mantra he was raised with but not one familiar to Jason or Tim before they were forcibly changed. Damian has to decide who is pack is, the people who ‘nurtured’ him, for all that that word applies, or Jason, Tim and others he’s never met.

Damian gives a single somber nod.

Jason can’t help the happy grin that spreads across his face. Even as fear bubbles low in his gut.

“Thank you, little brother,” Jason says sincerely, reaching out and patting Damian’s knee. “You’ll need at least an hour to get there, an hour and a half to be safe.”

“They’ll move faster than us once they set out. We’d need at least a forty-five minute head start,” Tim adds.

“Mother meditates for an hour in the mornings after breakfast.”

“And we usually take the kids out for fresh air after we eat, while it’s still cool.”

Jason looks between them, hormones once again threatening to overwhelm him. Between that and the fear gnawing at the edges of everything, it’s all Jason can do to not burst into tears.

“Perfect,” he says, ignoring the twin looks of pity they turn on him, “Then I’ll distract Ra’s.”

At Jason’s insistence, and both his brothers’ objections, Damian sneaks Jason some herbs that will amplify his scent. They have one shot and Jason won’t leave anything he doesn’t have to to chance.

They’ve already started breakfast by the time Ra’s joins them. Tim’s there to help with the children and it’s not uncommon for Damian to still eat with them even though he’s no longer needed.

Ra’s drags a hand across Jason’s shoulders as he walks past and presses a tender kiss to the top of his head as he moves past to take the seat next to his mate.

The alpha pauses as he pulls away to inhale deeply in Jason’s space before sitting. Throughout breakfast Ra’s gradually moves closer and closer to Jason, who doesn’t even have to fake the way his body craves his mate’s presence and leans nearer.

When the meal ends, Tim and Damian take the kids for ‘a walk’, as planned.

Ra’s lingers in Jason’s chambers while the dishes are cleared. As planned.

When the older man finally pulls the omega into his arms, starts pressing kisses over ever inch of skin he can reach, Jason goes easily.

“I’m still not healed,” he gasps, half for show, as Ra’s sucks at his throat before gently biting.

The only response is a growl and the tightening of strong arms around him.

Jason wraps his arms around his alpha’s neck and welcomes the invading tongue with enthusiasm before pulling back an inch.

“Wait, please, just for a second.”

“What?” Ra’s snaps, working at the loose scarves that hold Jason’s robes closed.

“I… I’m not healed.”

“You said that.”

“But… but that doesn’t mean there aren’t… o-other ways…”

The Demon freezes and moves away just enough to look at him.

Heat rises in Jason’s face as Ra’s grins and starts backing him towards the bed.

“Oh? And what did you have in mind, Beloved?”

Jason is both distracted by his worry for the others and breathless with desire as his own body reacts to his alpha’s increased scent.

Ra’s chuckles and tips him onto the bed where his robs fall open.

“Would you like to use your mouth?” the older man purrs, letting his own clothing pool at his feet.

The sight of Ra’s’ long, thick cock, cut and leaking already, makes Jason’s mouth water and he licks his lips.

The Alpha laughs and crawls onto the bed until he’s on top of him. They share a deep, long kiss before Ra’s leans in further to nibble on his lobe.

Jason chokes when a long finger presses against his asshole and soft lips brush against the shell of his ear.

“Or maybe I’ll fuck you first,” Ra’s whispers darkly, “Here, where you’re uninjured. Then let you clean me with your tongue.”

Moaning, Jason rolls his hips up. He can’t tell what is real and what’s for show.

Not that it really matters. He’ll have to to both to keep his mate here long enough, and if his body likes what the other man is going to do to him then at least it’ll be easier.

 Just as long as Ra’s doesn’t wonder where anyone is for an hour or so. Just as long as no one interrupts...

It’s even better than he’d hoped.

The frantic knock on the door comes nearly three hours later while they’re redressing.

Ra’s moves to answer it while Jason finishes tying his scarf around his waist before squaring up to where the Shadow anxiously informs the Demon that everyone is gone.

Jason watches all the muscles in Ra’s’ back tense before he straightens and stiffly, slowly, turns toward him.

He feels a surprising calmness in his heart and soul, Even in the face of the icy rage, clear as crystal, in the alpha’s gaze when their eyes meet. His children and his brothers are back in the safety of Bruce’s ship and Dick’s kind heart. Whatever happens next doesn’t matter.

Ra’s stalks toward him and Jason doesn’t bother backing away. Even as the old man’s fingers wrap around his throat and squeeze down hard.

“That,” Ra’s snarls low and furious, “was a _very_ big mistake, _Jason_.”

Jason looks him straight in the eye. “No. It wasn’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warning for miscarriage and blaming the miscarriage on the mother.**
> 
> So the first three pups are named Sara, Dusan, and William:
> 
> Sara - I figure Ra's named his daughter after his first love but since they're in Europe would aim for something more regionally appropriate? Far as I could tell Sara and Sora are similar names. 
> 
> Dusan - Is Ra's' first son with Jason. Dusan is the canon name for Ra's' son and is already European.
> 
> William - Is the only one Jason gets to name. He names him after a dear friend. Well, the friend's middle name anyway.


End file.
